The outstanding feature of Queensland's narrow gauge railway system was the vast distances necessary to reach small, isolated settlements. To achieve these distances, the early railway builders constructed cheap, light lines and structures, limiting the power and speed of locomotives to the generally modest planned traffic requirements.

From before the turn of the century, the challenge for the locomotive engineer was to find ways of obtaining a substantial increase in engine power and a resultant economy in train operation, but without incurring the enormous expense of reconstruction of the permanent way and its supporting structures.

The articulated locomotive seemed to be the key to this dilemma. Other systems throughout the world had achieved success with articulated power, especially the Garratt design. And yet, in Queensland, it was a goal that, for many reasons, eluded the traffic managers until almost the end of the steam era, by which time a new form of engine power was becoming dominant.

This book is a comprehensive narrative of the experiments, successes and failures in the local application of articulated steam power.

It is an indispensable authoritative reference to anyone interested in Queensland locomotive development.

The publication of this work is all the more significant, coinciding, as it does, with the return to operating condition of Beyer Garratt 1009, the end product of the decades of challenge that are recorded in this book.